Urban Cottage Farm Update

Things this past Spring were a little bit slow going in regards to our little Urban Cottage Farm. But this weekend we did a lot of catching up.

For Father's Day, all Sweet Man really wanted was for us all to take time to work in the garden together. So that is what we did.

It has taken me 16 years of marriage to realize that Nathan would rather do chores- like gardening, cooking, and grocery shopping- as a family, and risk taking twice as long to get the chore done than to divide and conquer - getting multiple chores done in the same time frame. (The latter being my preferred choice of course.) 

This was a bit of a funny realization because we tend to label me as the relational one and him as the loner.

Turns out that I am just more social. Which is not really the same thing as being relational.

It is an odd little discovery that we are still sorting through and is changing some of the dynamics in our home- for the better.

But back to the garden. 

First we weeded our very-overgrown garden bed.

And then we got down and dirty, finally planting our Edamame seeds from my Bean 2 Blog day

I am not a natural-born gardener, but when it came to planting the edamame I knew my stuff.
We dug our rows, added our fertilizer and planted those seeds.
Now we will just have to see if they actually come up!

 We also tended to our tomato plants, which we grew from seeds that my parents gave us for Christmas.
In the beginning these plants were labeled, but when we transplanted several of the varieties from the starter boxes to the garden, we forgot to transplant the label sticks as well.
Will be interesting to see what variety of tomatoes we end up with.

Every farm -even Urban Cottage Farms- need a truck. And we finally found the perfect one for us.

A 1986 Ford 150. Yeah baby.

I heart every rough and tumble part of this big white hunk of lovin.

Some people dream of sports cars.

Some people dream of luxary sedans or oversized SUV's or tinsy tiny British toy cars.

Me? I dream of a big, old, slightly-worn-out, boxy pick-up trucks.

A million years ago, when I thought I was going to go to graduate school and study Southern Women's History, I had daydreams about teaching at a small southern university, dressed in denim overalls, arriving each day on campus in an old pick-up truck.

Well, I am not a university professor (or writer-in-residence, oh the dream!) but I do have the overalls and the truck. Two outta three ain't bad.

And let me tell you, driving her is even more fun than I could have ever imagined.

Even though we bought the truck primarily to use in practical ways (trips to Lowe's, deer camp, to haul loads of mulch,)  I might also have big plans to take her garage sale-ing on Saturdays,  to the lake for picnics in the back, and maybe even a photo shoot or two... Just maybe. Could you blame me?

The final update is this windmill in the front yard. My in-laws recently moved to Louisiana (which I am in a bit of denial about,) and we inherited lots of goodies they didn't feel like hauling across the state line. This windmill was one of them. It is a little too rustic for my taste like it is, so I am planning on painting it.
 Right now I am divided between red (like our front door) or sky blue (like our mail box) or just going rogue and painting the whole thing mustard. (Please cast your vote in the comments!)

So that is what is happening around our little Urban Cottage Farm.
What is happening in your neck of the woods?

Praise Bag Winners!

Congrats to the Praise Him Bag Winners:

#4 - Hedy King who said I was that weird kid who wouldn't leave home, so camp was out. But as an adult I have been to many, many workshops, conferences, confabs that were just big old camps for big old kids. I love the warmth of sharing my thoughts with other women and lilies listening to their unique experiences. And there is always a tote bag....and that one rocks. Thanks for sharing. PS, I gotta get to Arkansas someday. Beautiful pictures.

#14 Life with My Sweeties who said Went to girl scout camp when I was very young and had a great time! And now my oldest baby is going off to camp! Can't wait to hear about her adventures!

Send me your address (jerusalemgreer at gmail dot com) and I will get these bags sent to you pronto!!

For my father

Me and my Daddy.

From my father comes my love of words, my love of music, my love of movies and books. The ability (and desire, truth be told,) to be alone with my own thoughts for hours on end. I can trace my sweet tooth back to him, as well as my impatient tendencies, and my desire to have the dishwasher loaded correctly.  His ongoing belief that I am capable of thinking for myself and choosing my own path is perhaps the greatest gift he has ever given me. 

I love you Daddy. Happy Father's Day!

(PS-I apologize for any and all grammatical errors.)

when it is about something more

First, here is a little glimpse into the  Homemade Year tent area -all set up and ready to go.

Crafts from the book all on display.

Palm Sunday Apron

Books for Sale!

Box of crafting supplies for deomonstrations

Michaelmas Bunting

Easter Paschal Candle

New cards stand at attention

Holy Cross pillow, Old Joseph Cards...

Patchwork Wreath, Lenten Sampler Tote

One of my little helpers

Tension holding things together

Sunflowers from my sweet hostess

Southern Voodoo Punch for thirsty shoppers and vendors

Grateful Mobile waving in the breeze

A few things I am grateful for

Eva, my little helper drew pictures of things she was grateful for.

This is a picture of Bread.

Love it!

My constant companions

Paper chains left over from the Homemade Hootenanny

And then, just like that, it was over.

************************************************

Last weekend was my last stop on the Homemade Book Tour Spring '13.

I cannot say that I am sad.

Like pretty much everything else related to the birthing of A Homemade Year, book events have been a huge learning experience for me. 

After doing just about every sort of even-speaking, signing, craft demonstrations- I have figured out what suits me best. 

What works well in conjunction with my daily life.

Which activities are life-giving, and which ones are mostly just time consuming.

Which ones make my heart full, my skin tingle, and my hair stand on end from shear joy and which ones just leave me exhausted and depleted.

Going into all of this I thought that all of the events would be equally fun.

I also thought that the crafts and recipes were what people would enjoy the most when they read AHY.

Turns out I was wrong on both accounts.

What I have found, through all this trial and error and success, is that what most people seem to love the most about the book, is the same thing that gives me goose bumps when I talk about it:

The stories.

The need to share our stories. The blessings that come from connecting our stories to the stories of others and then to God's story.

The common threads through all of our stories-   joy, disappointment, redemption, love, failure and hope- that binds our hearts together, and helps to erase the false belief that we are alone, that we are the only ones who have ever felt this way.

I thought I was writing a book about cute crafts, yummy recipes, and fun parties with some messy faith stories mixed in.

As it turns out, it is the other way around.

Berry Yummy Peachy Keen Crisp

Let me begin by saying that I have never been good at following directions.
Everyone in my family can attest to this.
Luckily, I am pretty good at improvising. Most of the time.
I don't get lost or turned around easily.
I can adjust.
 Tim Gunn would love me.
(I make it work, people.)

This habit applies to my cooking as well.

See, I want to follow the recipe to the letter, I really do.

But I tend to just sort of jump in without really getting all my ducks in a row.

For instance.

On Monday I wanted to bake something using the canned peaches I brought back from Amish Country,

So I dug through my cookbooks till I found The Pioneer Woman Cooks recipe for a Peach Crisp.

Perfect. 

I dove in.

First I made the crisp mixture.

But in my food processor instead of by hand. (Already, I have gone rogue.)

The ingredients were as follows:

1 stick of cold butter cut up

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar packed (I used dark brown sugar.)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Dash (oh more than a dash) of Nutmeg

1/4 salt (I used fine sea salt)

Next I cut up my peaches (6 peaches in all,)

And mixed them in a bowl with:

Zest and juice of one good size lemon (double the recipe suggestion)

2 tbsp of peach juice (my addition since I didn't any pure maple syrup...Or regular syrup. Apparently we are syrup pour at the moment.)

Next, I poured the peach mixture into a butter-greased casserole dish.

But there was an issue (of course.) 

My peaches where already cooked and P-Dubs were raw.

Which meant they did not cover up the bottom of my baking dish as they should have.

So I added a frozen berry mix I had in the freezer to round things out.

(At this point I am pretty sure Julia Child would have voted me off the island.)

((Who I am kidding? She would have kicked me out as soon as I went off book.))

(((And my apologies to Ree. I am sure her original recipe is truly yummy. I pinkie swear to attempt to make it properly someday.) 

After I got the fruit settled in, I spread the crumble mixture evenly over the top.

Then I baked the whole thing at 350 degrees until it bubbled in the middle.

We ate it with vanilla ice cream.

I may have licked my bowl.

And the serving spoon.

And the pan.

As good as all the maple touches (from the original recipe) would have been, I think the berry addition made it a perfect summer treat.

At least that's my story.

And I am sticking to it.

what I saw-some hobnob market eyecandy

I am still attempting to get unpacked, and tackle all the chores that have piled up around here during the book tour. 

So instead of trying to put together a coherent stream of deep thoughts -or even just original thoughts-I have decided to take the easy way out and just post lots of  pictures of vendor booths from  the Hobnob Summer Market last weekend. 

The market was held at the Kennekuk County Park, iu Danville, IL, a park that  is packed with amazing restored buildings, huge green fields,  and was the  perfect backdrop for an outdoor summer fete, and the weather was lovely. It did get hot in the sun at times, but the breeze was wonderful. And the heat was nothing compared to a deep Arkansas summer.

But enough about the weather, here are some of my favorite bits and pieces:

Here are some of my favorite vendors from the day-or at least the ones I managed to grab cards from!

For more info on vendors and upcoming markets you can check out the Hobnob Market FB page. 

Dorceys

Almost Gemini

Jenstyle

Rose Vintage

Hot House Market

Remix of Bella

Michelle Volanksy

The Path Less Traveled

Sparkly Star Creations

Inspiring Joy Studio

Underground Vintage Studio

Holly and Scott Snelling, whose baby Hobnob is, did a great job putting this event together.

I think we need them to come do this in Arkansas and bring all their vendor friends with them, don't you??